The duck pond in the Phoenix Park?.

Filibuster

Slight Off Topic:

Is this the crater holes from the training conducted by the British Army Artillery School. The school was based in the barracks at Islandbridge I beleive did their training on the 12 acres.

https://maps.google.ie/maps?q=53.360848,-6.31081&hl=en&ll=53.355777,-6.348829&spn=0.001042,0.002411&sll=53.362967,-6.30465&sspn=0.005743,0.016512&t=h&z=19

beauf

That's just a grass car park that's been destroyed by cars AFAIK.

I would expect Artillery shell holes would be a lot bigger and much more dispersed. I wouldn't expect any from the British time to still exist like that.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Filibuster wrote: »

Slight Off Topic:

Is this the crater holes from the training conducted by the British Army Artillery School. The school was based in the barracks at Islandbridge I beleive did their training on the 12 acres.

https://maps.google.ie/maps?q=53.360848,-6.31081&hl=en&ll=53.355777,-6.348829&spn=0.001042,0.002411&sll=53.362967,-6.30465&sspn=0.005743,0.016512&t=h&z=19

I doubt the Brits used any Dublin lands as artillery training grounds.

Filibuster

Ellie Cold Sagebrush wrote: »

I doubt the Brits used any Dublin lands as artillery training grounds.

They did, the 15 acres was the artillery training ground for the Dublin artillery regiments. The Royal Dublin Fusiliers also dug trenches on the 15 acres and conducted their pre WW1 training there.

Fifteen Acres (east)

Historical name and use
‘Artillery Practice Ground’ site of former gun
batteries and a ‘Camp Ground’.

http://www.phoenixpark.ie/media/Phoenix%20Park%20Conservation%20Management%20Plan%20Consultation%20Draft%20March%202009.pdf

arybvtcw0eolkf

Filibuster wrote: »

They did, the 15 acres was the artillery training ground for the Dublin artillery regiments. The Royal Dublin Fusiliers also dug trenches on the 15 acres and conducted their pre WW1 training there.

But was it used for range practice?.

Filibuster

Ellie Cold Sagebrush wrote: »

But was it used for range practice?.

Looking at the OSI map, there is 3 artillery batteries located to the west of the Magazine Fort. It appears they would fire into the "butt" - I assume is a large mound of earth.



http://maps.osi.ie/publicviewer/#V1,711693,734612,7,8

arybvtcw0eolkf

Thats interesting, I must look into that in work.. Have you any idea where the 'butt' is located?.

LXFlyer

Ellie Cold Sagebrush wrote: »

Thats interesting, I must look into that in work.. Have you any idea where the 'butt' is located?.

Not being smart - but it's clearly marked on the OSI map linked to above which you can switch to the current maps by using the overlay slide on the righthand side, which you can also zoom out!

arybvtcw0eolkf

lxflyer wrote: »

Not being smart

Yup, you're not being smart.

beauf

In fairness its just one or two clicks on the zoom.

Its just beside the Magazine.

arybvtcw0eolkf

beauf wrote: »

Its just beside the Magazine.

Grand, I can see it on the OS map of course. I was wondering where it would be located now. I really can't see the Phoenix Park being used by an artillery unit for range practice.

beauf

The map AFAIK is between 1829 and 1842. It was well outside of the city back then. Those artillery ranges might have still been there from an earlier time, though perhaps not in use when then map was made, but the features might have still been there.

The Magazine Fort in the south east of the Park marks the location where Phoenix Lodge was built by Sir Edward Fisher in 1611. In 1734 the house was demolished when the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset directed that a powder magazine be provided for Dublin. An additional wing was added to the fort in 1801 for troops.

The Magazine Fort, constructed in 1736 with additions in 1756, was a major military institution from which small arms, munitions and gunpowder were distributed to other military barracks in the Dublin area. Mountjoy Cavalry Barracks (formerly the home of Luke Gardiner, one of the Keepers of the Park) and the Royal Military Infirmary were two further buildings constructed during the 18th century in 1725 and 1786 respectively. The role of the Salute Battery (for firing cannon on Royal and other special occasions), situated in the environs of the Wellington Testimonial, was discontinued and the lands it occupied within the Park subsequently became known as the Wellington Fields and on which the Wellington Testimonial was erected.

Although the military dominated the Park’s institutions and Park use in the 18th century, their influence was lessened somewhat in the 19th century (though Mountjoy Barracks became the Irish headquarters of the Ordnance Survey in 1825). The presence of the police became more prominent, as illustrated by the construction in 1842 of the Royal Irish Constabulary depot near the North Circular Road entrance to the Park and two police barracks – one at Ashtown Gate and the other at Parkgate Street.

Victor

I imagine most of the artillery used before WWI would have been either solid (non-explosive) rounds or relatively small in size.

For WWI, I imagine the would have been using the 2 pounder, which fired airburst (time fuse) ammunition, designed to cut barbed wire and cause casualties, not destroy things.